The coppery smell of coagulating blood and the sharp sting of fear woke John from his trance. He was laying on the ground by the body of the Elk demon outside the gates of the sect. John noted that his body was extremely clean. He didn't even dare to presume his visions were safely in the realm of his mind any more.
Others from the sect were milling about, some were inspecting the bodies of the lesser demons, others looked lost in the sudden absence of chaos and battle. They all ignored the hundreds of mortal bodies, threshed like so much wheat. Some were staring at him, they were the sources of fear, John realized. Others were staring at the Core Elder still standing by the wayside, eyes rolled back in grotesque bliss.
That filled John with a cold fury, and he stalked toward him. John didn't expect the elder to move in protection of the mortals, but he did expect him to move in protection of the disciples. It was quickly clear in that fight that the other disciples were in over their heads, and there were bodies to prove it. John didn't know how they managed to clear up the rest of the horde while he was passed out. It's possible they all simply fell over without the animating spirit of the Elk Demon to keep them going.
Coming closer to the Elder, John slowed down. The man stunk a sickly sweet that was enough to nauseate him. Under the fever pitch of emotion, there was an undercurrent of corruption John could now sense... Something familiarly wrong and off-putting. John's eyes narrowed on newfound instinct, and John could suddenly see through the man's spirit and into his cultivation. It was a sight that was beyond sight, as even when he closed his eyes, John could still see the disgusting reality. Instead of a dantian, there was only a fat, twisting worm. Bile rose up John's throat, he didn't know how the Gu had survived the death of Lambert, but this one practically radiated filth. John didn't even want to consider what the parasite had done. Certainly destroyed the Elder's entire foundation. Probably destroyed whatever remained of his will and humanity.
John couldn't stand it any longer. The Elder was defenseless before him, and suffering even if he didn't know it. John prepared a fanged lance of qi and stabbed deep into the man's spirit, destroying the Gu worm. The resulting shudder wracked through his meridians, killing him instantly. John didn't even know his name, but he turned away and marched through the gates into the sect. From the outside, it probably looked like John stared at the Elder until he died.
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The Sect was in absolute chaos. It was clear that the mortals had shunted themselves inside and found nowhere to go. Many looked positively miserable considering they were now soaked to the bone by the endless rain. That would be an adjustment for them. Surrounding them was a sparser crowd of Outer disciples, largely confused, but John saw a few haughty expressions here or there. John was tempted to rub his temples at the headache he was sure was following, but so many were looking at him, he couldn't afford to lose composure here.
It was slightly tempting to pass the responsibility on to someone else... just thinking of how quiet and peaceful the spirit spring would be nearly had him turn on his heel. Nevertheless, the Sect Leader surely would do nothing, or make it worse, and Gaius already patronized to John, seeing him as merely his son's friend who tripped into unearned responsibility. No, it was time to put in the work.
"Outer Disciples, the Left Hand of the Sect demands your assistance." John made the command loud enough to cut above the general clamor and held up his medallion.
It was a bit of an awkward position, given that most Outer disciples had no idea there was a Left Hand, nor what the title conveyed. Secondly, John wasn't strong enough to simply order people around by telepathy like a typical high ranking Elder might, and they would send for elders telepathically first anyway. Nevertheless, with a bit of hesitation, a large group of disciples gathered before him.
"Organize yourselves into groups of four." John gave a second command. A small group would be better than individuals at the strength of outer disciples, and they would keep each other accountable.
Once they were orderly, John began handing out assignments. The first group he sent to the healing hall, to bring healers to the injured disciples and then to the gravely injured mortals. The second, third, fourth, and fifth groups were sent to gather the corpses of the demons outside and bring them to the old garden where Benjamin could begin preserving important resources from the bodies. Except the Elk Demon, John amended. Yes they would know it on sight, he assured them after various protests. The sixth group was to report to the Outer alchemy hall, who would then be responsible for the Elk Demon's body, bringing it to Ben and assisting him.
John started to lose count, and he was running low on disciples. He sent disciples to bury the mortal dead. He sent disciples to collect disciple bodies for later burial or cremation. He sent disciples to collect more disciples. He sent disciples to organize the crowd of mortals into groups of families. He sent disciples to gather various Elders to help manage moving the mortals into temporary housing. A whole block of disciple rooms were cleared--there were countless houses, some disciples simply needed to be moved to make a clear neighborhood, but he still wanted the Elder's assistance in evicting them.
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Once they were halfway settled in, John sent word to Gaius. It was surreal to command so much of the sect's resources all at once, but John had practice in the Weird compound and later with the construction of the fortress. This was just a larger scale. Regular disciples made little or easily squashable fuss, and the Elders he commanded were either happy to help or happy it wasn't their headache to deal with. As far as Gaius, John could have used his support but he needed even more to send a message about his own competence. If managing the aftermath and refugees of a Weird incident didn't fall under his remit, what would? The Sect Leader had given him explicit right to manage the Weird sides of the sect, that included demon attacks as far as John was concerned.
"Elder Left Hand." A nameless disciple greeted and bowed before John politely.
"Yes?"
"Elder Right Hand invites you to tea."
"Guide me."
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On the walk over, John pondered exactly what being invited to tea meant in this situation. John hadn't given any specific instructions to the disciples he sent to Gaius, simply to inform him of the happenings. John's act of taking control of the situation directly was the real message. John wasn't so tactless as to think those in power would bend to John's whim just because of his title, without power of his own to back it up, 'Elder Left Hand' was polite sophistry. On the other hand, John couldn't afford for the Elders around him to treat him so lightly, even Gaius. He would need to find a middle path that kept John in actual power without Gaius finding it threatening. In actuality, John didn't want to threaten Gaius, but he did intend to continue his separatist efforts, which Gaius would definitely frown upon.
Eventually, they came to a small pavilion in the Core Sect and John readied himself. As John walked inside, he realized he had been here before. Drinking tea with the Sect Leader. John was sure it wasn't a coincidence and sure he was more out of his depth than he had estimated.
"Hello John." Gaius greeted in a slightly strange tone.
John internally cringed. Even the opening line was the same. The lack of his proper title a sure insult as well. This was going worse than expected and it had barely begun!
"Greetings, Elder Right Hand, Faction Leader." John made a show of subservience to the faction and acknowledged Gaius as above him, but also addressed him by their equal title.
That seemed to soften Gaius up.
"I see that congratulations are in order, well done on your advancement to Organ Tempering." Gaius offered with a wan smile.
John wasn't sure if the mention of his cultivation rank was genuine or meant as an insult to his standing. Either way he grit his teeth. The fight with the Elk Demon left him flush with qi, even after his advancement. It was a short step to completing his foundation and advancing to Golden Core, or whatever the equivalent would be.
"Thank you, there was quite a commotion at the entrance, it gave me a small opportunity." John once again acting humble. 'Not a usurper, just a.... deputy, reporting in.' he thought to himself.
"So I heard. Tell me, what happened?"
John was sweating, Gaius was putting out a lot of pressure now, and the whiplash in moods was starting to be too much. Gaius definitely knew what happened already, this was giving John a chance to make it up to him, or to give him enough rope to hang himself. Time to roll the dice.
"A group of spirit beasts transformed under the influence of Weird qi harried a large crowd of mortals to the sect. I found the resistance weak and disorganized, and thus acted to defend them, and shortly after to defeat the commander of the demonized group." John left out a few key details, like why the mortals were there in the first place, and that the defense was ineffectual because the guiding Elder was too high to notice.
"After the battle, I organized disciples to clean up the bodies, heal the wounded, and marshal the mortal families to temporary housing. There are a considerable number of young men and women in the group. We shall test their spiritual roots, any disciples inducted will be predisposed to our faction since we took care of them in this crisis. Anyone who doesn't pass muster can be tested for compatibility with Weird qi." This was John's real pitch. He acted not in defiance, but in service of the goals of the faction!
"And what of the parents, or those too young?" Gaius questioned, pressure still on.
John didn't have a perfect answer for this part, he suspected adults might be compatible with the Butterfly Dream Scripture even if not typical cultivation. It would be highly unorthodox to keep the mortal families around, but trying to kick them out would be harder. Even if John had simply kicked them out the door after the immediate threat was resolved, the Sect could potentially lose face. And they would definitely lose any potential disciples from the crowd. By now, it would be even an even worse disaster. It's not like they could simply kill the adults and keep only the disciple-aged mortals.
"It would be inconvenient to get rid of them directly. They will have to work as mortal guards or servants, or we could open a space for them outside the Sect walls but within the barrier."
Gaius released the hold he had on the atmosphere, and John sensed a strong approval wafting off him, it smelled roughly like cinnamon. John took a sip of tea to disguise the strange look on his face.
"Very well, I--" Gaius was interrupted suddenly by a disciple bursting in the door, Inner sect by his cultivation.
"Lords Right and Left Hand!" He bowed deeply while also trying to gasp back his breath. "More demons are assaulting the gate!"